Senior Staff AI Software Engineer, Perception

Agility Robotics | Robotics and automation

1h 40m ago

Remote In-Country

Full Time

United States of America

$238k - $372k USD/yr

Title: Senior Staff AI Software Engineer, Perception Location: Hybrid- Any Office (Fremont, CA, Salem, OR, or Pittsburgh, PA); Remote

Agility’s commercially deployed humanoids operate alongside teams in warehouses, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers—tackling physically demanding and repetitive tasks while enabling workers to focus on higher-value work. With industry-leading safety standards and years of proven deployment data, we're pioneering a new era of automation that enhances human potential.

Agility Robotics builds Digit, the world's first commercially deployed humanoid robot — already at work in real warehouses and manufacturing facilities today. Digit has proven itself in structured work cells, and now we're pushing beyond them: into open floors, shared aisles, and dynamic spaces where people, forklifts, and other robots are all moving at once. That shift raises the bar for perception dramatically — Digit needs to reliably understand and react to an environment that's no longer predictable or controlled.

That means perception isn't just about capability — it's about trust. Every person Digit works near is counting on our perception systems to see them, understand them, and never get it wrong, whether Digit is in a fixed work cell or navigating a busy, ever-changing facility. We're looking for a Senior Staff AI Software Engineer, Perception to own the technical vision and system architecture for how Digit perceives and stays safe as we take on these more dynamic, less constrained environments.

What You'll Do

Own the technical vision and system architecture for Perception that enables safety and efficiency, defining how Digit will perceive and reason about humans and hazards as it expands from structured work cells into open, dynamic environments
Analyze key architectural tradeoffs across sensing modalities, model design, redundancy, and compute budget, balancing safety, latency, and real-world robustness
Stay hands-on with development to prototype, validate, or build critical pieces yourself
Partner with functional safety and systems engineering to define the safety case strategy, identifying what architecture and evidence will be required
Support failure mode and hazard analysis at the system level, shaping which risks the architecture must design around
Evaluate emerging research and technology, and decide what's worth adopting into future robot architectures
Set standards for verification and validation of ML-based perception systems, especially for rare and safety-critical scenarios
Collaborate across navigation, controls, and hardware to make sure the perception architecture serves the whole robot
Act as a senior technical mentor and partner to engineers and technical leads across the organization, and represent the architecture to executive leadership, partners, and customers as needed

What You Bring

8+ years in machine learning/perception for robotics, with a track record of defining system architecture
Master's or Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field, with a strong foundation in machine learning, robotics, and intelligent systems
Demonstrated experience architecting ML/perception systems for safety-critical or safety-rated contexts — human detection, functional safety, automotive or robotics or a comparable regulated domain
Deep expertise in deep convolutional neural networks, multi-object tracking, data association, supervised learning, and pose estimation, with strong intuition for where these approaches break down in unpredictable, real-world conditions
Experience making system-level tradeoffs across sensing modalities, redundancy, and compute constraints on embedded/real-time hardware
A track record of setting technical direction at an organization level
Publications in your field are a plus (CVPR, ICCV, RSS, ICRA preferred)

Nice to Haves

Direct experience supporting a safety case or certification submission
Experience architecting redundant or diverse sensing systems for safety-rated perception
Experience architecting perception systems for humanoid or legged robots specifically
Experience representing technical architecture to regulators, third-party certifiers, or safety auditors
Substantial experience with failure mode analysis (FMEA), hazard analysis, and safety case strategy for autonomous or robotic systems

Location

This is a remote role with the option to work hybrid if a commutable distance from our Salem, OR, Pittsburgh, PA, or Fremont, CA offices.

The final salary offered to a successful candidate will be dependent on several factors that may include but are not limited to: market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. This range may change based on geographical location and may be modified in the future.

Anticipated Base Salary Range

$238,000—$372,000 USD

In addition to base pay, our competitive total rewards package consists of the following for full-time employees:

401(k) Plan: Includes a 6% company match.
Equity: Company stock options.
Insurance Coverage: 100% company-paid medical, dental, vision, and short/long-term disability insurance for employees.
Benefit Start Date: Eligible for benefits on your first day of employment.
Well-Being Support: Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Time Off:
- Exempt Employees: Flexible, unlimited PTO and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown.
- Non-Exempt Employees: 10 vacation days, paid sick leave, and 12 company holidays, including a winter shutdown, annually.
On-Site Perks: Catered lunches four times a week and a variety of healthy snacks and refreshments at our Salem and Pittsburgh locations.
Parental Leave: Generous paid parental leave programs.
Work Environment: A culture that supports flexible work arrangements.
Growth Opportunities: Professional development and tuition reimbursement programs.
Relocation Assistance: Provided for eligible roles.
Annual Discretionary Bonus: Provided for eligible roles.

All of our roles are U.S.-based. Applicants must have current authorization to work in the United States.

Agility Robotics is committed to a work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. Each individual has the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes equal employment opportunities and prohibits unlawful discriminatory practices, including harassment. Therefore, it is the policy of Agility Robotics to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Agility Robotics prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.

Agility Robotics does not accept unsolicited referrals from third-party recruiting agencies. We prioritize direct applicants and encourage all qualified candidates to apply directly through our careers page. If you are represented by a third party, your application may not be considered. To ensure full consideration, please apply directly.

Required Languages

🇬🇧 English

Relocation support available

What You'll Do

Own the technical vision and system architecture for Perception that enables safety and efficiency, defining how Digit will perceive and reason about humans and hazards as it expands from structured work cells into open, dynamic environments

Analyze key architectural tradeoffs across sensing modalities, model design, redundancy, and compute budget, balancing safety, latency, and real-world robustness

Stay hands-on with development to prototype, validate, or build critical pieces yourself

Partner with functional safety and systems engineering to define the safety case strategy, identifying what architecture and evidence will be required

Support failure mode and hazard analysis at the system level, shaping which risks the architecture must design around

Evaluate emerging research and technology, and decide what's worth adopting into future robot architectures

Set standards for verification and validation of ML-based perception systems, especially for rare and safety-critical scenarios

Collaborate across navigation, controls, and hardware to make sure the perception architecture serves the whole robot

Act as a senior technical mentor and partner to engineers and technical leads across the organization, and represent the architecture to executive leadership, partners, and customers as needed

What You Bring

8+ years in machine learning/perception for robotics, with a track record of defining system architecture

Master's or Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Computer Science, or a related field, with a strong foundation in machine learning, robotics, and intelligent systems

Demonstrated experience architecting ML/perception systems for safety-critical or safety-rated contexts — human detection, functional safety, automotive or robotics or a comparable regulated domain

Deep expertise in deep convolutional neural networks, multi-object tracking, data association, supervised learning, and pose estimation, with strong intuition for where these approaches break down in unpredictable, real-world conditions

Experience making system-level tradeoffs across sensing modalities, redundancy, and compute constraints on embedded/real-time hardware

A track record of setting technical direction at an organization level

Publications in your field are a plus (CVPR, ICCV, RSS, ICRA preferred)

Nice to Haves

Direct experience supporting a safety case or certification submission

Experience architecting redundant or diverse sensing systems for safety-rated perception

Experience architecting perception systems for humanoid or legged robots specifically

Experience representing technical architecture to regulators, third-party certifiers, or safety auditors

Substantial experience with failure mode analysis (FMEA), hazard analysis, and safety case strategy for autonomous or robotic systems